Council Tax Direct Debit not taken - a big bill this morning

BoGoF

Only the council will be able to tell you if you can pay in instalments. My own view is that the threat to remove the right to pay by instalments relates only to this years bill, normally if you default during the year they want the remainder in one amount.

The arrears will be a seperate matter for negotiation.

My advice, pay what ever you owe for this year, then you should be able to pay the remainder of this years bill by instalments. In addition you are going to have to come to an agreement to clear the earlier years arrears but there is no right to pay the arrears in instalments.

opinions4u

I've got to be honest, while there are doubtless some incompetent local authorities in the country, there are only two possible causes for this situation:

1) It's another exciting internet trolling moment brought to you by MSE or

2) The OP has not provided the whole story and there is more to it than stated.

Draw your own conclusion.

If it's a genuine post, I refer people to the first reply given. I thought it got nicely to the point.

jeffdjeff

opinions4u wrote: »

I've got to be honest, while there are doubtless some incompetent local authorities in the country, there are only two possible causes for this situation:

1) It's another exciting internet trolling moment brought to you by MSE or

2) The OP has not provided the whole story and there is more to it than stated.

Draw your own conclusion.

Thanks, it's definitely not 1 and I think regarding 2 I've pretty much explained everything, at least from initial phone call to the council to set up the direct debit, receiving annual bills indicating payments being made by direct debit, to neither of us noticing...there's not much else really. The original post was a request for advice regardless of how it happened who is at fault etc, as to whether it's fair to pay it in instalments, or can the council enforce payment in 7 days. Is it possible for someone to make a request for some genuine advice on this board without people assuming we're in some way trying to take advantage of the situation and get out of paying?

jonesMUFCforever

jeffdjeff wrote: »

There's no fuss, it was a request for advice really, is it fair to pay it in instalments or can the council enforce payment within 7 days. A simple yes/no/don't know will do.

Yes they can is the answer you didn't want but is perfectly legal.

eschaton

OP is a trumpet

Pay no CT for 4 years and supposedly not realise and then try and blame it on different bank accounts.

Manage you money and pay your debts.

Job done.

jeffdjeff

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

Yes they can is the answer you didn't want but is perfectly legal.

It was a straight-forward request for advice, I don't know why you think 'it's the answer we didn't want'. Having received this letter on a Bank Holiday weekend and been asked for full payment within 7 days some flexibility around the payment would be helpful.

jeffdjeff

eschaton wrote: »

OP is a trumpet

Pay no CT for 4 years and supposedly not realise and then try and blame it on different bank accounts.

Manage you money and pay your debts.

Job done.

Please take the time to read the whole thread before jumping to conclusions. Why do you find it so hard to believe that this has been a genuine oversight? Can you at least see that when the council have been provided with dd details and then sent out bills with 'This is for information only, no further action is required, you are paying by direct debit' in large font at the top, that we may actually have thought they would have been deducting the payments? I have not blamed different bank accounts, just that this is part of the reason we didn't spot it. The original post was a request for advice as to whether paying by instalments would be fair, rather than the full amount within 7 days. Why have you assumed we can't manage our money or pay our debts?

zppp

jeffdjeff wrote: »

The original post was a request for advice as to whether paying by instalments would be fair, rather than the full amount within 7 days. Why have you assumed we can't manage our money or pay our debts?

Yes they do have the right to request full repayment. If you cannot afford to pay it off in full, then the onus is on you to come to a repayment arrangement with them and pay in installments. How many installments depends on how much you can afford and how much they are willing to accept, so there are no hard and fast rules.

If they refuse and take it to court proceedings, at least you have attempted to repay them and the court will probablhy agree.

jeffdjeff

zppp wrote: »

Yes they do have the right to request full repayment. If you cannot afford to pay it off in full, then the onus is on you to come to a repayment arrangement with them and pay in installments. How many installments depends on how much you can afford and how much they are willing to accept, so there are no hard and fast rules.

If they refuse and take it to court proceedings, at least you have attempted to repay them and the court will probablhy agree.

thanks for the advice

LittleMissAspie

I thought you had to set up a new direct debit each year? Maybe the first year was taken but not the rest.

I must say that when my boyfriend was in charge of paying the council tax, he refused to set up a direct debit and said he'd pay it manually each month. Of course he kept forgetting to pay it and every month we'd get a reminder letter. Finally he stopped being an idiot and set up a direct debit. But this year we somehow forgot to set up the new one and we missed April's and May's payments. We noticed around mid-May when I was updating our money spreadsheet. We immediately paid the 2 month's worth and set up a new direct debit for June onwards, but I was very surprised that we hadn't heard from the council.

I get the feeling that lots of people don't track the money going out of their account. We usually do ours once a month but we'd got behind, that's why we hadn't noticed we hadn't paid.